Monday, October 05, 2009

When one gets past the vocals on some of the heavier forms of music, such as the various metal subgenres, one will see that the practitioners of the art can come up with some damn good lyrics. I recently discovered another example of this, with California thrash metal band Testament's recent work. Much of it I have yet to hear, but I was privileged recently to hear the band's take on the events of September 11, 2001, a fine little record called "The Evil Has Landed." From everything I've heard and read about Testament, the band more or less falls into the second tier of the '80s thrash bands below what everyone calls the Big Four -- Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth -- but everything I've heard from them sounds damn good, and this cut from their latest album is no exception.

Unorganized Militia Propaganda Corps

About Me

I am a very opinionated guy, Texan and quite proud of it. I lean toward the right politically but have a few libertarian tendencies that my conservative brothers and sisters might not agree with. I like guns, old country music and a lot of other things.

Essential Reading

False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils, except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, the most important of the code, will respect the less important and arbitrary ones, which can be violated with ease and impunity, and which, if strictly obeyed, would put an end to personal liberty -- so dear to men, so dear to the enlightened legislator -- and subject innocent persons to all the vexations that the guilty alone ought to suffer? Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.-- Cesare Beccaria, in On Crimes And Punishments, later quoted by Thomas Jefferson

Echo

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.-- Alexander Hamilton